@eyemgh I have 2 questions.
Here are my grades for lab science in high school.
9th Bio: A A
10th Physics: A A
11th Chem: C D
Would this count as 5 semesters for total lab science semesters since I received a “D”?
Also, both of my parents graduated high school but neither attended college. Does this mean I still don’t get the 300 points per parent for my MCA score?
Thanks for reading.
It’s been a long time since I looked, but don’t Ds count as 1 in the GPA calculation? That would mean 6 semesters unless I’m misreading, plus the rigor scored included your 12th grade classes, just not in your GPA. You’d get no bonus if they graduated HS, even with no college.
@liiiiiiiiiiiiiil: Since you received a D 2nd semester instead of the 1st, you did not pass the class so Chem would not fulfill the a-g course requirement. If it is an AP course, you get no extra honors points in your GPA calculation so I am not sure if you would get credit for either semester according to Cal state grade validation rules. SLO rules may be different and @eyemgh maybe right. For a definitive answer I would contact admissions.
I’ll be the first to admit, I’m no expert on that end of the grade scale. As @Gumbymom mom said, CP does things differently, but if anything, they tend to be more restrictive. I’d follow her sage advice and call admissions. They are both super helpful and super friendly. Good luck!
Do they have websites letting you know what certain MCA scores are desired for each major?
@nmg7215 No, they do not. The university does not publicize that the MCA score exists, even though we know that they use it. Even if they did acknowledge it, publishing desired MCA scores would not help much, since almost all of the programs are impacted, and the yearly “cut score” for each major depends primarily on the strength of the applicant pool. The best way to come up with a range for your major is to go back through the ED and RD threads for previous admissions cycles and see what type of score was admitted, and what was not. You can also try to calculate a rough MCA score for the stats reported by a given student. @eyemgh started a thread this year where students are reporting their exact MCA score, in hopes of developing some data for future cycles.
Hi Helpful CP SLO people: 1) Question re veterans and MCA. Are points given to kids of disabled vets? 2) Does ‘rigor’ apply to Community College courses taken on the high school campus? Eg. In addition to AP English, son’s high school offers an English 101 taught by a local CC instructor on the high school campus. Brand new. Says the kids will get college credit. 3) Kid’s school does not offer four years of mandarin. So kid wants to take mandarin online. Do you think that will count as a 3rd year of language?
@alpal44a, no on the kids of DAV. Yes on the CC courses taught on campus, but check with admissions to see if you should count it as a HS class or a college class. Where dual enrollment becomes powerful is in bringing credit in after acceptance. It usually counts more than AP. Lastly Mandarin, I’m not sure. Admissions will be able to answer than when you call about the dual enrollment class. Report back and let us know. Thanks!
Hi again eyemgh: Lo and behold, today I actually got a hold of a live Cal Poly (Pomona, though) adcom staff. Those CC courses will be counted as college class (Yay!). The mandarin online was pooh-poohed. And, while there is a spot to check “dependent of vet” on the app, they do not give points to dependents (too bad). Hope this info helps others as they count up their MCA points. And, thanks for the input!
I don’t know that CP Pomona and Poly use the same algorithm and rules. If you want to know about Poly, you should call Poly.
Cal Poly SLO is still a Cal State, right? All cal states use the the same application. Some, like Cal Poly, have supplemental questions to collect additional data points. From what I remember it did ask demographic questions about the parents: Education level, etc and possibly veterans status. Most Cal States are transparent in their admissions scoring, Cal Poly use confidential propriety algorithms to increase yield. You can call cal Ploy and ask if the Disabled Vet parent will effect the algorithm but I highly doubt whoever answers the phone will have access to that info. Collecting untaxed VA benefits may effective amount of aid your family is eligible for.
It appears that Cal Poly uses secret MCA method that other Cal States don’t use in reading through the thread.
@Baylorpoly, I can’t comment on the rest, because I’ve never seen their algorithm. I have the original presentation of the CP MCA, so I know it well.
@eyemgh I am very new to this and I am trying to calculate my daughters MCA, but I am confused on the class rigor score. The min semester/max/bonus/total score. i.e. if she took 4 semesters extra of English what would that count as?
Here’s English 8/10/50/100. What that means is that a student who has less than 8 semesters will automatically be rejected. A student with 8 will not get any MCA bonus points. Nine semesters net 50 points. Ten semesters net 100 bonus points and any more than that don’t add anything. It caps at 10 semesters and 100 points. I’m guessing you miscalculated as English is required Freshman through Senior year in almost every US high school.
@eyemgh So if she has 4 years or 8 semester required Freshmen through Senior year English and additional 2 semesters critical writing and 2 semesters Publications, then she would get 100 bonus points correct for English?
AHHH, I see my mistake, 4 semesters EXTRA. Dooh!
YES…collect 100 points and move to the next round! 
@eyemgh, I have a question about class rigor I hope you can help with. D was accepted last week to Business Admin. We calculated her MCA as 4450. We calculated class rigor as:
10 English Semesters -100, 12 Math Semesters - 500, 6 Lab Science Semesters - 100, 6 Foreign Language Semesters - 50, 3 Visual/Perf Arts Semesters - 25 = 775.
I know the max is 750. On her original application, she was going to take another lab science second semester so she would have had 150 points for lab science. Since she already maxed out without it, should dropping that course make a difference to her acceptance?
@planfor16, I don’t believe it will. I’d take something that doesn’t have any relevance to college per se that she just wants to take. That class for my son was art history. He’s and engineer. Congrats!
@eyemgh, I hope you’re right! We notified admissions about the schedule change and now we had to send all high school and community college transcripts. Admission status is under review. The person we spoke to said dropping a lab science could make a difference. That was the only change she made from her original application. Stressful!